The U.S. Housing Market’s Road to Recovery

A year ago, we were very concerned about lingering weakness in the U.S. housing market, which we saw as a major obstacle to the economic recovery.

But what a difference a year makes! As our latest report on the U.S. economy points out, the housing market recovery has been stronger than expected, and is providing a significant boost to private domestic demand and economic growth.

What has changed in the last 12 months? House prices have rebounded sharply and are currently about 7-12 percent above their level a year ago. Home sales increased by more than 15 percent over the same time period. Thanks to higher house prices and the positive effects of government housing finance programs, fewer homeowners are “underwater” (owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth) or are behind on their mortgage payments, and fewer houses are entering foreclosure.

What is driving the recovery?

First, highly accommodative monetary policy, including Federal Reserve purchases of mortgage-backed securities, has set the stage for a revival of the housing market. Lower mortgage rates have increased mortgage refinancing, reducing monthly mortgage payments and therefore supporting private consumption, and encouraged home purchases. Lower returns on financial assets, such as long-term bonds, have also made real estate investment more attractive to investors.

Second, mortgage finance policies (such as the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)) have provided a further boost to refinancing and helped reduce the weight of the shadow inventory on home prices. For example, after an expansion of the program, HARP refinancing activity increased last year. Efforts are underway to enhance these programs, in particular to increase the public’s awareness of them and to streamline the process of loan modifications. Other recent policy initiatives have aimed at strengthening mortgage underwriting standards, thus contributing to a more sustainable recovery.

Is the recovery sustainable?

The housing recovery is likely to continue. However, the speed of the recovery is difficult to predict and recent data has raised concerns about sustainability.

The sharp increase in mortgage rates since May has raised concerns about a bump on the road to recovery, with higher rates potentially reducing demand for housing and dampening house price growth. There is little hard data to evaluate the impact on the housing market thus far—while mortgage refinancing activity has fallen sharply in the past few weeks, other recent housing indicators have remained relatively upbeat. However, mortgage rates remain close to their historical lows, and housing affordability is high, even after the recent increase in rates.

Double-digit house price increases over the last few months have also caused concerns that the housing recovery is moving too fast and is headed toward a new bubble. These concerns seem premature. Despite recent increases, house prices nationally remain well below (about 20 percent by some measures) their pre-crisis level. While the price increases have been broad-based nationally, house prices have generally increased the most in regions where their decline had been the strongest, suggesting that prices are still catching up after the collapse.

Room for additional measures

While the housing market has come a long way over the last few years, it is not yet fully recovered and there is still room for policies to support the recovery.

Highly accommodative monetary policy, and effective communication and careful timing of normalization of monetary policy can provide the right conditions for the recovery looking forward. As the economy recovers, the impact of higher mortgage interest rates on housing market activity and house prices is likely to be mitigated by the positive effects of a better economic outlook on confidence and credit conditions.

Expeditiously completing regulations requiring banks to retain part of mortgage risk on their balance sheet and addressing remaining frictions in the housing market are a priority. While efforts are underway to gradually reduce the footprint of the government-sponsored enterprises (such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac)—which currently account for nearly all issuance of mortgage-backed securities—there is scope for additional measures, including an early adoption of a fully articulated medium-term reform strategy for these enterprises.

2 Responses to "The U.S. Housing Market’s Road to Recovery"

Part 1
Well , lets make it clear certain facts here , US Real estate market is on “artificial tube feeding –resuscitation attempt- by the generous Fed Reserve” despite ever growing Fed Reserve Balance Sheet –not seen ever on record- 45 billion(with a B) a month ( Let me explain so you understand better what this means in reality ; 1 Billion dollars means 11 tons paper weight of 100 dollar bills each , so 45 billion a month means 495 Tons of 100 dollar bills each month ) if you do not consider this `Artificial resuscitation` by purchasing Agency Securities (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) then you are a `dreamer` …Fed Fed reserve`s Chairman Bernanke had `flip flop` statements in past month of June and early July regarding QEIII program , we all saw very clearly how sensitive the stock market speculators in the `Wall Street ` and still `dependent` and `hooked desperately` to this extra 40 billion Bond purchases a month ( it means injection of 440 tons of paper weight 100 dollar each bills to the economy ) … Please cont Part II

Part II
Total of whopping 85 billions a month …All this `abnormality` allowed thanks to`dollar currency` have been designated and excepted `time being` as ` reserve ` and currently being supported by ever dependent China and Japan to keep their currencies value `low` relative to reserve currency , for their labor market and exports and `world energy/oil prices are pegged to the dollar` but all these `three` variables are changeable at any time … So do not be too naïve to be optimistic too soon ….in this dynamic world especially the brand new Euro currency since 2001 technically `doomed` and already `intubated and on artificial respirator ` in the long run as we see clearly the ` never ending `turmoil for 4 long years throughout the Europe with `lots of Crickets around and the single exhausted and tired Ant (which is Germany) trying to help out these Crickets around EU .